In general, the majority of the stones in the Church Grounds section date from the late 18th-century through the 1840s when the newly-established Rural Cemetery replaced the State Street Burying Grounds. However, there are also quite a few stones which are much older. In fact, some of these stones predate the State Street cemetery by as much as eighty years. These stones originated in small churchyards in downtown Albany, especially the Dutch Reformed Church’s burial ground which was located at the corner of State Street and Broadway.

Plaque on the Old Post Office (Broadway) noting the site of Albany’s earliest organized burial ground

When the Old Dutch Church relocated to a Phillip Hooker-designed edifice on North Pearl Street, the graves were removed from its vault and churchyard and relocated to the congregation’s section of the new State Street Burying Ground. Graves from later burial grounds along South Pearl Street near Hudson Avenue and Beaver Street were also relocated there, though a large number of graves were left behind and not discovered until construction crews uncovered them in the 1980s.

Not all graves in these downtown burial grounds were marked with headstones and a number of headstones were lost prior to the removal to the Church Grounds. In 1836, for example, the 1711 headstone of Albany’s second Mayor, Johannes Abeel, was found by workers along South Pearl Street and simply discarded. It is believed that the Abeel stone was not the only one discovered and thrown away at that time (updated – further research reveals that the stones believed discarded were not – see the Jeremiah Field headstone and link below).

Still, some early stones did survive their various journeys from their original resting places to the Rural Cemetery. There are several stones in the Dutch Reformed section of the Church Grounds which can be positively dated to the 1720s and several which, while very worn and difficult to decipher, appear to be slightly older.

In very good condition compared to its contemporaries, the stone of Elyse Gansevoort Winne dates to 1728 and is also one of the most decorated stones of its age in the Church Grounds.

Unlike Elyse’s ornate and legible stone, many of these oldest stones are very badly worn and difficult to read. The carved surfaces of the markers are not only eroded, but portions of the stone has flaked away and left large blanks in the inscriptions. At least one stone is face down, making it impossible to identify. Also, almost none of these 18th-century gravestones were included in the Common Council’s inventory which makes it even harder to match partial inscriptions to known burials.

These stones, which are difficult to read and identify, may be among the oldest surviving gravestones in Albany. The area’s oldest known gravestone was found in Schenectady and dates to the late 1600s.

This stone is missing pieces of its inscription due to flaking, though the year at the top is most likely 1721. I believe this is the gravestone of Catlyna (also spelled Catlina or Catalina) Schuyler Bogert. Born in 1686 – the year Albany received its charter – Catalina married Jacob Bogert. Little else is known about her (including the exact date of her death, though it is known that Jacob died in 1725)but she appears to be the only match for this gravestone based on birth and marriage records (burial records of this era are extremely scanty). It is the oldest stone I have been able to identify so far, even tentatively.

The article mentions one having been found that year which was dated 1690. Frustratingly, they don’t provide any other information about it. I continue to wonder if Albany Rural might still have a copy of Charles B. Heisler’s report or anything else relating to his project, but have yet to ask them.

That 1690 stone is elusive. I’ve tried finding it on my own, but so far haven’t. There are a few stones which appear to be very old at the far end of the Dutch section, but they are very difficult to read and at least one is face-down right now.

Hmm. I wonder if there’s any chance that in 1945 they moved some headstones to another section. I could possibly see that happening if it were for a person who had family elsewhere in the cemetery. Heisler’s report might indicate.

I’ve been very frustrated by the lack of cards for the older stones, particularly the Dutch Reformed lot. Even the cards recorded from the lot leave these out. And they weren’t included in the Common Council inventory. Even once that are legible like the Peter Winne stone,